Everything Else

Game #28 – Hawks vs. Capitals: Q&A With Jason Rogers

By Sam Fels 2334 0

Jason Rogers is a writer for JapersRink.com, as well as a few other outlets. You can follow him on Twitter @HeyJayJRogers. 

The Caps had their own salary cap purge in the summer. Williams, Johansson, Alzner, Shattenkirk, Schmidt all headed for the exit. Which has stung the most so far this season?
Boy, it depends on when you’re asking. Early on, it was defenseman Nate Schmidt. Ol’ Smiley Face was a third-pair blueliner while in Washington, and struggled to even earn a sweater from Coach Barry Trotz over crumbling Methuselah Karl Alzner last season. With fully half of the defensive starters now gone from last season, you might say depth has been a problem, in the same way that it is a problem for sinking ships. Rookies have stepped up admirably, and the new young core seems to be beginning to gel, but sprinkle in another injury here or there and this Capitals defensive could be in major trouble.
There was some furor over Barry Trotz splitting up Backstrom and Ovie for a period of time. Is there anything more here than just trying to spread scoring?
That’s basically all it was. With Marcus Johansson and Justin Williams (two thirds of last year’s second line) gone to other clubs, scoring was thinner than a svelte ski for a while there. They’ve been reunited for a couple games now, and, well, Alex Ovechkin once again leads the NHL in goals. It’s hard to oversell how historically good the set-up-and-finish pair of Nicklas Backstrom and Alex Ovechkin for the last decade, but both of these guys are headed to Hall of Fame one day, and they’ll each have the other to thank.
Maybe due to the departures on D, John Carlson is playing about four minutes more per night than he ever has. Any concern that he’ll be paste by April?
Yes. Oh, God, yes. It’s one of the hottest topics in DC right now. Can John Carlson sustain this level of ice time? Can Barry Trotz really keep using Carlson like this? Are the other defensemen made of balsa wood and paper mache or something? Carlson struggled in his expanded deployment early on this season, but he’s coalesced into a fairly reliable emergency cork for this team. Barry Trotz has a reputation, deserved or not, for being especially unwilling to give young players ice time in order to develop when he has more experienced veterans, perhaps with lower ceilings, available now. What you’re seeing now on the Capitals blue line is this simple face: Barry Trotz trusts John Carlson, Matt Niskanen, and, lately, Dmitry Orlov. He is learning to trust Christian Djoos. He does not trust Madison Bowey or Brooks Orpik.
Lars Eller is having his best offensive season so far. Just a different role or different game?
Lars Eller is a stone cold stud. He is a possession gremlin, and he makes more offensive things happen in Washington than a skeezy lobbyist. Last year, his line (along with Andre Burakovsky and Brett Connolly) was the very best possession line in hockey for most of the season. He’s getting opportunities this year, but he’s also being used like a fine, Danish glue to hold the offense together wherever it seems weakest. But keep an eye on his hands; the dude can make plays.
Eller, Carlson, Beagle, and Wilson are all free agents after the season. If the window didn’t shut last year, is this going to be it for this group or can they keep everyone together?
Ah, the seventy-five million dollar question. Lars Eller may have played his way out of the Capitals’ tax bracket the last two years. Someone will offer him more than Washington would like to, but he should be a priority for them.
Jay Beagle, what can you say: the front office loves him. He’s a “glue guy.” He’s consistently a league-leader in faceoff percentage, and he’s their most trusted penalty killer. Would the Capitals like to try and replace him? No, certainly not. Can they replace a career fourth-line forward? Yes, of course.
Tom Wilson, they will have to take a look in the mirror and ask themselves some tough questions. With all of the penalties, and the suspensions, and the general lack of offensive production, is this grinder and penalty killer – and former first-round draft pick – still worth his salary when the purse strings are this tight? Could they get a league-minimum guy who can do what Tom Wilson does, and then some, perhaps? For me, I say yes, because I know for a fact that Daniel Winnik exists.
John Carlson will be the most interesting of all. At the end of last season, I would have told you there was no chance Carlson would be on the Capitals at the end of this one. Now, though, will his unavoidably praise-worthy, improved level of play – in killer minutes, being asked to absorb killer assignments – he may have made himself too valuable for Washington to let go.
Everything Else

Game #28 – Hawks vs. Capitals: Douchebag Du Jour – There Can Be Only One

By Sam Fels 2615 0

Sometimes it’s hard to find a guy on a team that you can build up any level of distaste for. They’re just a team of “guys.” Sometimes the pick is rather obvious, but only because a player sticks out just enough from a group of those who don’t really elicit any emotion. Sometimes it’s a little clearer than that.

And then there’s Tom Wilson.

You will not find a bigger douche-canoe in the league. And what makes it worse is that most Capitals fans will perform some combination of an aerial one-legged crow and fire-eating to defend what should be one of the worst first-round picks in their history. Wilson can’t do anything but charge and board and yap. This dingus got himself suspended twice IN THE PRESEASON!! Do you understand how royally fucked up that is? He’s an absolute danger to his coworkers, and if the NHL Players’ Union had any sense of respect for their own they would have gotten to this guy long ago. He’s a misguided missile.

And he doesn’t do anything. The most hilarious aspect to Wilson is that he was a first round pick, At the time the Caps took him in the first round, FIRST ROUND MIND, he had 12 goals in the OHL over two seasons. You know who scores in the OHL? EVERYONE!!! Where did McPhee drum this up? In any other sport a pick like this would see you never get an executive job again. In hockey it gets you an expansion team.

Caps fans will tell you that Wilson is a dependable penalty killer and forechecker. You know where you can find that? FUCKING EVERYWHERE! The Hawks dug Tommy Wingels out of their ear this summer and Wilson is essentially the same thing. Eric Fehr has been in the league for like 73 years. Torrey Mitchell has been in the league a decade and has played for every team twice. We could go on for another hour at least. And none of these guys are likely to maim an opponent 10 seconds after they released the puck, if not whistle.

But no. Guys like Wilson, just like Raffi Torres and Derek Dorsett and Dan Carcillo and whatever other dangerous jamoke you want to name before him will always find a home because an NHL GM is always likely to grab his groin and say his team needs to be tougher to play against and “we like that element.” None of them can tell you how it helps you win, but that’s clearly secondary.

Fuck Tom Wilson and the ship that brought him to shore.

Game #28 Preview

Preview

Spotlight

Q&A

Douchebag Du Jour

I Make A Lot Of Graphs

Lineups & How Teams Were Built

 

 

Everything Else

Tonight I’m Gonna Rock You Tonight – October 5th

By Sam Fels 1177

Game Of The Night

Predators v. Bruins (6pm)

Cleary the Penguins-Hawks is the game of the night, but we’ve spent all day talking about that so let’s move on for once, huh? Let’s admit there’s something outside of our little bubble! Open the spectrum a bit, maybe learn something about someone. Anyway, everyone’s favorite little-hockey-team-that-could, despite their GM having a tradition of signing sex offenders continues unabated, hits the ice tonight in The Hub. All eyes will be on the Preds this season, because all hockey writers want to go get drunk on Broadway on the company dime again and then rerun all their “hidden hockey gem” stories. As for the B’s… they’ll just hope Zdeno Chara can live through this.

Everything Else

Your Friends And Neighbors – ’17-’18 NHL Team Previews: Shake It, Madam

By 1777

I know you’re not going to believe this, but a Barry Trotz-coached team wasn’t able to get past the second round. And I know you’re not going to believe that the Washington Capitals, despite having the deepest team in the league by some distance and probably the best team they’ve ever had, couldn’t get past the Pittsburgh Penguins in a Game 7. But hey, they didn’t lead 3-1 this time! Now the Capitals have to see if they can try and scale the mountaintop again as something other than the favorite, with a slightly stripped-down roster. Actually, if you’ll allow me, the Capitals are being booked probably the way Roman Reigns should have been. They were at the top, everything was set for them, and they failed. And now they have to go through it again, with the most amount of doubt from the hockey world and within the organization themselves. They don’t even know if they can do it, or will ever be able. They have to overcome themselves even more than what’s on the other bench. Might being just outside the center of focus be exactly what they need? The Auld Enemy is almost certainly going to be waiting in Round 2, once again.

Washington Capitals

’16-’17 Record: 55-18-8  118 points (1st in Metro, out in 2nd round)

Team Stats 5v5: 51.8 CF% (4th)  52.0 SF% (3rd)  52.1 SCF% (6th)  9.1 SH% (2nd)  .937 SV% (1st)

Special Teams: 23.1 PP% (3rd)  83.8 PK% (7th)

Everything Else

Capital Destruction

By 2684

I guess it says a lot about me that I’ve always enjoyed writing about the failures of teams more than the successes. Well, “enjoyed” isn’t the right word. But the writing is better. It’s a more interesting study. There’s more layers to it, and looking forward from rubble is more interesting than just gushing about triumph. That doesn’t mean I don’t want the triumph from time to time, because otherwise I’m going to set myself on fire on the Michigan Avenue Bridge. Whether it’s the Hawks or elsewhere though, there’s just more to talk about when things go wrong for a team.

All series, I had sat here and really wondered what the Capitals would conclude if they continued to dominate this series but lost anyway. Would the panic of yet another loss, the aging of Ovechkin, the impending cap situation, and whatever other factors cause them to act rashly this summer? Or would they hold the line? Now we’ll find out.
However, it didn’t quite go that way, did it?

Everything Else

Decision Day

By 1530

I’ve seen people in some circles complain that we had to wait nearly a full month into the Stanley Cup Playoffs to get a Game 7. None in the first round and all that. Me? I love it.

Game 7s should be the thing you never want to get to. The “Please Don’t Make Us Do This” level. The absolute last resort. The “We’ve tried everything else and now this is the only way we can reach a conclusion. This is our only path to catharsis.” They should only happen a couple times per spring, to keep them special.

Because if you get a spring full of them… most of them turn out to be pretty disappointing. Rarely do you get November 2nd in Cleveland (and I still would have happily taken an easy, 6-3 Cubs win and been just as happy thank you very much) or Seabrook’s shot tipping off Kronwall’s stick and over Jimmy Howard or… well, we won’t mention that other Game 7 at home.

Everything Else

Honey Don’t Stop Tryin’ And You’ll Get What You Deserve

By 1298

A mere five days ago, I wandered in from whatever haze I was in and wrote a post on just what would the Capitals, their fans, and the hockey world in general conclude if things didn’t break their way the next three games. Because for the most part, they had done everything right and simply were not getting rewarded for it. And the last time they went down this road, they needlessly blew it all up. This time, after last year’s loss, they stuck to the plan. Are they finally getting what they have earned?

Or this being the Caps, are they reserving the biggest stomach-punch for their fandom for Wednesday night? You never can tell with this bunch.

Everything Else

On The Verge Of History…Hilarious History, Glorious History

By 1238

People, do you realize what we’re on the verge of here? Do you understand? We’re all so swept up in watching the Capitals throw away yet another brilliant team and season that I don’t think the hockey world is paying enough attention to what could happen on the other coast. The Anaheim Ducks are just one more, 60-minute spit-up from blowing their fifth-straight 3-2 lead and losing a Game 7 at home.

FIVE! They’ve done this four times in a row! They’re halfway to their 5th! Do you understand the magnitude here?! On level of sports accomplishments, this is Kerry Wood’s 20 Ks, Jordan’s 55 in the Garden, that one game where Cutler was great behind no offensive line (I forget which one). This is going to be a Picasso, a Rembrandt, a Monet of playoff idiocy.

Everything Else

Now The Capitals Are Fascinating

By 1510

Sometimes I think there’s this assumption about how you build a championship NHL team, or in any sport really. That you bottom out, collect your draft picks, hit on most of them, bring them through together, add the veterans at the right time and then you win. But that doesn’t really factor in for so many things that are out of your control. Because you can do all those things, and there just might be someone better or farther along their curve when you’re ready. And then when they’re done, one who is behind you on the curve is ready to come to the fore.

The Capitals have gone through this cycle twice. They had one of the NHL’s best teams in 2009 and 2010. They had blended Ovechkin with Backstrom, Semin, Green, Laich, Fehr, Fleischmann, and a few others. They amassed what now looks to be a silly 121 points. But one year, they ran into Crosby and the Penguins in 2009 when they were a post-Therrien firing buzzsaw. They lost in seven games. Not all that far away. The next year they got goalie’d by Jaro Halak. Really, these are two things out of their control. And they lost both series on something of a knife edge.

Everything Else

The NHL Needs To Decide What It Wants To Be

By 1551

I suppose one of the main drawing points to another Penguins-Capitals series was that it was always likely to generate controversy, given how often these two teams have met, how hyped it’s been, and how the fanbases feel about each other. Make no mistake, a lot of the furor over Niskanen-Crosby: In Your House is one set of fans/media reacting to the other and then ratcheting up over reactions to that.

This isn’t just about this particular incident, and we’ll get to the others. As far as this one, I’m just not buying Eddie Plugs’s or any Caps fan/coach’s excuse on it, and it isn’t just about this one in particular. Yes, things happen fast on the ice. Why we love it. But the reason those dudes are out there and we’re sitting here is because they have the reaction time to deal with how fast things happen out there.

Sure, it happens too fast for Niskanen to plan it all and consider the consequences and the particular angle he’d like to take to Crosby’s face. But don’t tell me after watching him follow-through on it he didn’t see a window to Crosby’s head and take it. I just don’t buy anything else. And Niskanen’s previous behavior in this series does him no favors either.